Iron Maiden
by Reaper's Shadow
Summary: Sort-of Prequel to Betrayed. In order to combat the Conqueror's forces, Irina undergoes special training with Rush and Emmy. Something simple turns into a job that could get both of them killed! Rush x Emmy x Irina FRIENDSHIP, slight Rush x Emmy
1. Prologue

I had originally intended for this to be my first LR story, but since I wanted to wait until my beta could get done with this, I ended up posting Betrayed. So this story will serve as a prequel for Betrayed before I continue it, just to make sense of the Emmy x Rush pairing.

Now this story is Emmy and Rush, but I want to also focus on Irina and her training as that is the second main point. The first is getting Rush and Emmy to get along. As for romance, there will be hardly any due to the shortness of this story. Maybe if I decide to make a sequel…

Enjoy!

**Iron Maiden: Prologue**

The battlefield was quiet, save for Emmy, struggling to breathe, with only her back pressing up against the wall of the training area of the Heroic Ramparts keeping her from falling on her rump. Beads of sweat trickled down her face, sliding off their home and into the pavement of the ground, mixing with the blood that dripped by her side. Nothing more than a scratch compared to the torture her body and soul had endured. Unimaginable pain barely covered the right description her body was in, but it was close enough. She flinched as the cool winds swept throughout the small arena, stinging the scrapes and cuts on her body.

Picking her head up, she could see the various remains of the monsters she and Rush had slain earlier. Pieces of the Hypnos squads, several different miscellaneous body parts, lay on the ground before her, some even sticking to the wall. It was strange that their bodies didn't fade away like most creatures, but then again, their enemy wasn't like the normal creatures. Her blades were nowhere in sight, most likely underneath the rotting carcasses of the foul beasts she thought.

But the body of the young Rush Sykes had caught her gaze, along with the pool of dark blood around her comrade. Her breath stopped, body frozen in terror. "Rush…" The words slipped from her mouth. She was stunned and horrified, having never experienced a loss such as this. In her short life as a soldier, she had lost many friends, but this one made her heart sink to the dark abyss of her soul.

She pushed herself off the wall, stumbling all while reaching her comrade, taking four bloody steps before she fall on her knees, then onto her stomach. Her hair fell in front of her face, only covering half of it on her right side. She didn't care how bloody or banged up she was in. All she wanted and needed was to get back up and find the people that summoned these Hypnos in the first place; neither Rush or her mother Emma would forgive her for not trying.

Her bloody hand, the same one she had used to cover the gash on her body, dragged her soon to be carcass through the mist of corpses. Fingers crushed against the mushy skin of the demons, clinging to her flesh. She cringed at the rotting smell filling her nostrils, but ignored it, gritting her teeth and focusing on Rush. One final drag lifted her from the ground, struggling to stay up as the weak arm supported.

She finally stopped, all the energy finally drained from her, and fell with a loud and squishy thud on top of the Hypnos. Her hand was only mere inches away from Rush's face, fingers dangling before the boy before fully falling down,

But as her vision began to falter, turning darker and darker by the second, she recalled the events that transpired long before this event…

* * *

The sun radiated it light over the denizens of Athlum within the cloud-free sky, its light no longer blocked by the town's remnant, the Valeria Heart. More than six months have passed since that horrific event that took place, when the Conqueror had killed one of the four Generals, Emma Honeywell, and stole the remnant. A serious blow indeed, both physically and emotionally.

But much like their Marquis, they had moved on and learned to live without it; most were actually happy without the sword blocking the sunlight, claiming it made the town appear too dark.

However, despite the smiles on their faces outside of the palace, the inhabitants within the confines, mainly one Emmy Honeywell, daughter of Emma Honeywell, was currently trying to figure out what Lord David had just asked of her.

"Permission to speak freely." She asked. When David nodded, she spoke once more. "With all due respect, Lord David, why do you insist I train Irina Sykes alongside her brother?" The last word left a despicable taste in her mouth.

If Lord David was surprised, he hid it very well behind that smile. He acted like he had no clue as to what Emmy was talking about, but he knew full well what she had meant. The two, Rush and Emmy, never got along so well, even after he had helped her with various personal tasks. He had heard about arguing siblings in stories, and to him, those two seemed like the perfect description.

And he couldn't forget the mess Rush made when he wanted to try his culinary skills. Long story short, he had used forbidden materials by accident, causing one hell of an explosion that made everything within a the confines of the kitchen deaf and covered with some of the hottest stuff known to any species, the two being Emmy, who had stumbled in, and Rush. He would have laughed, had he thought Emmy would laugh rather than try to kill Rush with her bare hands. It took the strength of Baulson and Blocter combined to make sure Rush escaped with minimal injuries.

Despite this horrible, yet hilarious fact, there was still the problem of trying to teach Irina, and he wasn't sure Torgal was up for the task due to his harsh training; David knew firsthand that his training should never be taken lightly, unless that particular person loved to visit the infirmary on a daily basis. Plus, David needed him, Pagus, and Blocter to stay on guard in the event someone would try to steal something from the palace. Though he never thought much of rumors and town gossip, he saw the thief himself sneaking through Athlum, using the darkness of the night as his cloak. Granted, it had been at least a week since then, but the young Marquis could not afford to take that chance, especially with the heirlooms and other valuables they had recently added to the vault, such as the newly acquired remnants. The very last thing he needed was someone like the Conqueror getting more of the relics; the loss of the Valeria Heart was far too great.

But one more fact remained, one that he actually said:

"Irina is Rush's brother, and he was VERY protective of her…and highly reluctant on letting her fight. I doubt he would trust too many people to the task of teaching her how to fight. Torgal has little patience and his training has left more than a few…scars." He hesitated a bit after saying that, flashbacks becoming more vivid as he remembered his training as a young Mitra. "And he was closest to Emma out of all my Generals, and trusted her very much. Because of this, I cannot think of anyone better than you to teach Irina how to properly defend herself."

She nodded, stood up straight, and crossed her right arm over her chest. "Understood, my lord! I will carry out this task." Both of them knew however that behind that salute, she had already begun to resent the idea. Walking out of the throne room with her head held high, she had thought that maybe this wouldn't be too bad. After all, Irina did seem to know how to control her older brother…sort of. Well, at least without having to resort to verbal and forceful threats with a wide variety of weaponry and invocations. Who bad could it possibly be?

…She had no idea the hell she would soon endure.

* * *

Is Rush dead? Will Emmy truly go to hell? Will I actually finish this story? Who knows? I will say that this story won't be terribly long since I don't have too many ideas. If anything, it will probably last about another 3-5 chapters. Besides, I'm not writing some novelization or anything, and it's hard to write about these guys since they don't really have too many moments together, or at all.


	2. Chapter 1: Rushing into Trouble

Now that I am done with the shit-fest that was the tournament, I can finally get back on track with updating my fics.

Sorry for the delay, but I actually finished this chapter months ago, but with all the work, I forgot about it. Plus I sent it to one of my betas, and she never got back with me on that; I think she may have forgotten. Regardless, this is unbetaed.

Now I forget what I said in the beginnign, but for the most part, these chapters will probably be random/linkable for the most part, and mainly dealing with either the trio and building their friendship, or Emmy changing her feelings, sort of. But there is a plot, if the prologue wasn't any indication.

My muse is kinda down, so I'll be back to to writing video game reviews on my blogs as a warm up to wake her the hell back up. Also, I will be role-playing on Shiva Dancing and Crystal Epos. I highly recommend the both of them, and I even play Hannah on Crystal Epos! XD Out of all the characters in Last Remnant, she is actually my favorite, though tied with Emmy. And I thought it'd be a good challenge to take her based on the plot I am developing for Betrayed.

I thank all of you who are enjoying the story thus far, and hope you continue to read! Your praise always helps make me feel mighty good about myself! ^_^

Disclaimer: Square Enix owns Last Remnant. I do not. Sad, isn't it?

* * *

**Chapter 1: Rushing Into Trouble**

In another part of the palace, in the newly redecorated kitchen, Rush and Blocter stepped out, with the mitra holding a bowl of the foulest substance Blocter had ever smelt within his twenty years. Rush would be overwhelmed as well, had he not took the precaution and equipped a clothespin onto his nose. And while he couldn't really get a good sniff out of anything, he was sure that the contents within the pot were enough to strike down even a dragon!

Thankfully, the diabolical concoction wasn't meant for eating; no living being could so much as sip it in the first place! Rather, Rush had though to fill some of the training dummies with the substance. He thought that the idea would go really well with Irina's training, giving her more of a feel of the battlefield, minus the assortment of demons and monsters waiting outside. And since he wasn't a vampire and unable to use real blood, he had to make due to his culinary skills.

The moment he proposed that, Blocter had immediately preferred getting actual blood. He could've sworn his own lifespan had just dropped a few decades!

The general eyed Rush carefully, making sure that none of the liquid was spilled onto the carpets; the last thing he wanted was to spend his months cleaning the halls of the palace. "You sure you're not gonna spill it?"

Rush rolled his eyes; why must everyone assume he was an incompetent? Sure, there was that time in the kitchen…and that day he taunted the giant bird in Fortstrand….and no one could forget his stupidity when he accidentally lead several Greater Demons to the entire group.

…Okay, maybe he did have his faults, but who didn't? At least in his mind…

"No, _mom_," he said sarcastically. "I can handle this just—GAH!"

Blocter raced, or in this case, wobbled his amphibian-body in front of Rush, his hands ready to catch the pot. To his surprise however, the pot was not on the ground, or even in his hands. Instead, Rush still held the pot perfectly natural, grinning at Blocter's panicked stricken face. The grin faded away with the Yama's grief, and said Yama automatically reached for his axe, though he had forgotten that he left it to the blacksmith to be upgraded.

Blocter shot a glare at the young mitra. As much as Blocter enjoyed jokes, in their current situation, it was not so wise to play around; it would only lead to Blocter's true fears! "Why you little!"

Rush only laughed. "Your face was priceless, dude! You looked like a fish outta the water!"

"I'll throttle you!" Blocter charged at Rush, but soon stopped when his face was mere inches away from accidentally running into the foul cauldron. Unintentionally taking a whif, he retracted himself and fell to the floor, gagging. "Damn that shit stinks!"

"It's not that bad," commented Rush, trying his best to hold in his laughter.

Blocter made his best effort to get up, struggling to even stand on his small legs; he was beginning to regret being so massive in size. His head swirled, body unable to stand straight as he tilted to his sides back and forth. Normally he would pound or chase Rush until he was tired, but with such a smell, one more whiff would probably kill him.

…Maybe he could get one of the Hinnah or Hannah sisters; he kept forgetting who was who, to teach him the error of his ways, by braking his bones and such.

Rush walked past his dazed teammate, snickering, and continued his trip to the training grounds. He shouted to his partner, "Would you hurry it up? You can't seriously expect me to do all the work!" A single second flew by before Rush gave up and carried on. "Whatever. But you better come on and meet me there!"

However, too distracted by his own yelling, Rush failed to notice two things in the hallway. One of which was the mysterious creature he dubbed Mr. Diggs; not too clever with titles was he. Said creature accidentally thought his master had summoned him, appearing in his unusual, and surprisingly mystical, way. With both the cauldron and yelling distracting Rush, he stepped onto the creature's head, his foot now stuck in between the horns of the poor monster.

The pain rushing through his head by the young Sykes, as well as the weight crushing his tiny body, he immediately panicked, squeaking what was probably his version of a shriek, and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the more tighter the grip his horns would get on Rush's foot.

Rush, finally noticing his young pet, tried to get his foot away from the clutches of the horns, panicking as well. "Get off of me, Mr. Diggs!" He picked his leg up, trying to kick away the poor beast rapidly. "I don't have time to play, nor do I have any morsels, so scat!" He stopped as the heat of the cauldron was in face-level, nearly burning off his skin. _'Damn it!' _He knew keeping this up now would only result in him becoming the first human monster repellant.

Blocter, his senses finally returning to him, at least partially, ran towards his friend, grabbing Mr. Diggs, and stopping Rush from moving. Sadly, Rush was right near yet another thing he had failed to notice:

The banister at the end of the hallway. As for what was on the other side, his soon-to-be accidental target was approaching…

Emmy left the throne room wordlessly and unrushed, immediately heading towards the training grounds in a calm demeanor. In her head however, several words and other violent actions were swirling about as she knew Rush was going to piss her off; it's like she developed a special sense for his stupidity.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. This wasn't like her, at least wanting to kill a comrade wasn't too much like her. Not to mention all of it was draining her, and she needed every ounce of it for the training regime she had already planned for Irina. The first step would be a mere day or two to get her used to weaponry, then actually take her and Rush through several areas, hunting down rare beasts in order to test her limits. While dangerous, she had made absolutely sure that they wouldn't encounter problems to allow any fatalities during their journey; she would never under any circumstance, allow harm to Irina either, and not just because of David's orders either.

Her thoughts stopped when she spotted another comrade in arms, Nora, leaning against the wall, inspecting her new hammer as always in the event of an attack. Though technically a mercenary, she had agreed to take the place of Emmy during her absence while she and Rush trained Irina. Emmy called out to her, "Nora!"

The witch look-alike picked up her head, slightly smiling at Emmy. Nora never really got along with anyone in the group, usually hanging around the bar for food and the occasional gold she could get with jobs and even gambling. Emmy and Irina however were the only two she could smile at genuinely, feeling sympathy for Rush's sister, and treating Emmy as one of the few equals in the group, often comparing her to the late Emma. "What's going on?" she asked, putting the hammer to her side. "I assume you guys are ready to head out soon?"

Emmy shook her head. "Not yet. Before we actually get the real training started, I feel that Irina needs to have at least a small degree in weapons training first, since I don't want her to rely on us all the time."

Nora nodded, approving of the plan. "Sounds fine by me. Only problem is I am going to be bored out of my fucking mind all day!" she added with rolling eyes. "The good news is that I can at least feast on any amount of shit I want, so long as a certain soldier isn't cooking."

"No need to worry about him. He is coming along with me," she muttered regrettably. She was thankful Irina could cook during their trip.

Nora chuckled, a part of her catching onto that sentence and wishing to tease her just a little; she never got such an opportunity these days. "What? You're going to give him a private lesson or something?"

Emmy blushed furiously, knowing full well the meaning behind those words. "D-don't be ridiculous!"

The mercenary shrugged. "Whatever you say. I'm just in this thing for the money. But…" She leaned forward. "Just remember to always keep your eyes on the boys."

The young general arched an eyebrow. "I think Rush already knows not to do such acts around me. Otherwise I would break his arms and the usefulness of alone time would be stripped of him." The thought nearly made her shiver, recalling memories of when other gentlemen, if they could be called that in the nicest of terms, had attempted to bed her. Naturally, they met dire results, especially ones who though she was just another weak fighter. She couldn't deny some pleasure was brought from the experience.

Nora chuckled, then threw her head back and laughed, unable to picture Rush like that. "Ha! Not what I meant, though it would be interesting to see him go through a wall simply because of that! I'm talking about—"

"SHIT!"

The young general's senses flared, recognizing the shriek of Rush. Forcing herself to gaze wide-eyed above, only to immediately shut them as the lava that was the concoction poured from its prison on top of her. Lady luck clearly played no hand to aid the general, for the pot containing the dreaded poison swallowed the top half of her body, trapping the acidic substance all around her. The slush trailing slowly trailing down her form sent a chill up her spine, though it quickly faded with the burning intensity piercing through her.

Air was a luxury at this point, along with a bath and David's Gae Bolg to shoot Rush! Once the slush moved away from her mouth, barely past her chin, she shouted the name behind it all. "RUSH!"

"That." She heard Nora finish, able to hear the chuckling despite her predicament.

Something pushed the cauldron, forcing her to step back because of the weight, nearly tilting backwards. Before she could hazard a guess, Nora's voice came back. "Okay, just hold still and I'll get you out. Don't wanna kiss your mom in the heavens yet, do ya?"

If the substance that entrapped her hadn't entered her system, she would have turned pale rather than purple. "Wait! What are you doing!" she panicked, her voice echoing in fright within her chamber.

"Gonna knock your head out of the park if you don't hold still!"

The young, shivering adolescent gulped in fright. He had already heard his name shouted through the cauldron, yet his legs anchored his body to the ground, forcing him to watch Nora strike Emmy…repeatedly. Like a bell, the noise echoed, and Emmy moaned in pain before falling to the ground. All Nora had accomplished was hurting the general, and a large dent that no doubt was ready to pierce right through Emmy.

"Wow…Pagus' cauldrons sure got harder over the years…"

Rush immediately glared at Blocter, both in fear and anger. "You blockhead! Look what you made me do!"

Blocter returned the gaze, walking closer towards Rush until he was in his face. "My fault! You're the one who decided to pull a prank on me!"

"At least I can control my anger and not—"

"Oh where have you been for the last year! After you joined us, your reckless crap easily topped my own!"

"Well at least I didn't make a dumb decision like pull Mr. Diggs off! Seriously, you could have just caught my damn back or something!"

"Yeah, and who's the moron to summon it in the first place!"

At this, Mr. Diggs bowed his head. Rush glanced to his side, and both he and Blocter redirected their attention towards the entire cause of all of this. "You!" they said simultaneously, startling the creature.

Yet the creature revealed its secret weapon, a skill used only by the most vulnerable of children, and occasionally adults as well…

The puppy dog eyes.

Neither hardened warrior, if they could be called that, was able resist upon seeing the cute expression of the tiny animal. "Well…maybe we can't stay mad at you…"

"I can!" shouted an all too familiar voice.

Slowly, with pale and horrified expressions pasted onto their faces, the duo turned their heads around, eyeing a burnt Emmy crouching atop the railing…with Nora's hammer ready to smash their skulls, even after the damage she had already done to the castle walls just by climbing them with it. The damage her armor sustained was minimal, with only the colors slightly obscured by Rush's cooking, along with her hair. Her face however was beet red, both from the dragon-sized rage welling inside her, and the heat that burnt her skin.

Rush was the first to speak, though he gulped and laughed nervously. "Hey Emmy…You look…tan…" His words held little effect, and so he resorted to getting onto his knees, pleading with her. "Oh come on! You know I would never do this on purpose! It was all just an accident! Ask Blocter!" He pointed to where his friend was, the key word being was. Upon seeing Emmy's raised eyebrow, he twisted his body to stare at the vacant space. He stared at the small trail of sweat left behind, growling when Blocter retreated behind the corner of the hallway. "Traitor!"

"You have five seconds, Sykes…" she said, smacking the rod supporting the hammer against her hand. Though she wasn't exactly as handy with it as Nora, the murderous intent in her eyes said otherwise to Rush.

"Umm…" Sweat simply poured out of Rush, trailing down his neck and face like a waterfall. He turned his direction to Mr. Diggs, perhaps the only thing that could stop her at this rate. "Diggs? How about some help here?" The creature pointed towards Rush, winking before flipping in the air, the mystical energy taking him away. Rush's eyebrow twitched. "I'm going to kill them if I survive…"

Emmy got up, jumping down onto the ground and tapping the hammer against her hand. "Time's up…Any last words before I break your legs?"

Rush crawled backed up as Emmy got closer, walking backwards with his hands out, trying to stop Emmy. "Can't we talk first?"

She shook her head, murderous eyes glaring down onto Rush.

Panicking, he reached into his pockets, searching for some gold. Lady luck blessed him with something better however: his talisman. Torgal had advised Rush not to use it so frequently, only for survival. Given the situation, it begged to be used. As he gripped it, the mystic aura surrounded his body, and he ran like the wind, leaving Emmy behind.

Emmy blinked, then growled. "Cheap trick…" she muttered, but grinned evilly before dropping the hammer; she could run faster without it. She knew the layout of the castle almost as well as Torgal and the others, while Rush still had trouble finding his way out; the perfect advantage.

She ran down further into the corridors, stopping every now and then to decide which path to take. Despite knowing the layout, she had to be careful not get lost herself; there were one or two areas she had never gotten the chance to fully explore. That, and she didn't want the others involved in this matter. She never would kill Rush…Just bruise and possibly injure him, teach him a lesson everyone else refused to. If anything, she was doing Torgal a favor, knowing the Sovani had at least wanted to punish Rush a time or two in the past.

* * *

A heavy sigh escaped Irina's lips. Flipping another page of the large book before her, her head fell onto the pages. She had said she'd give it her all by studying all sorts of magic, staying away from the blades and such for her brother's sake, but the more she read, the more she wanted to hurl the book back onto the rack and sleep. She had already borrowed some items from Rush, some of which Pagus managed to find copies of, yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't use something as basic as a Spark magic, to her dismay.

The Quisti encouraged her however to learn different arts, some of which even Rush had not dabbled in. So far, she could at least perform basic healing, but that wasn't good enough. She wanted to fight, not stand on the sidelines and play cheerleader or the damsel in distress again while Rush continued to play the reckless hero. It was her turn to protect, and she would be damned if the chance was taken away.

The resolve made her snap awake, pounding the desk before returning to her studies. That's right. For the sake of everyone, she had to keep reading…

But just as quickly, she became bored once again. She was beginning to wonder when Emmy would pick her up and go adventuring. Part of her was jealous that while she was being held captive, Rush got to go around the world to various locales, and once again play the part of hero. Her jealousy only grew when he told her all the stories, some even involving dealing with such groups like the dreaded Third Committee, or when he mentioned the time going into the ruins of a castle to save a woman, though it turned out she merely lost something. There was something about that one that seemed to make Rush turn slightly red, along with Emmy.

Her dull day came to a screeching halt when the doors flew open, and her brother came forth, his arm held back behind his back while being dragged by Emmy. Irina's face drained itself of color, watching Emmy roughly slam Rush onto the table, pressing her arm against his neck. He tried to wiggle free, only for Emmy to increase the pressure, seething as she did so. Neither one had even noticed Irina was literally right in front of them

"Um…guys?"

Both of them had stopped, and Emmy's grip finally loosened, her face transforming into a nice shade of red. She knew she would be caught eventually, just not by Irina. She bowed her head. "I-I'm sorry Irina."

Rush on the other hand collapsed on the desk, struggling to breathe and get back up. Immediately he pointed at Emmy. "She started it!"

A glare from the general was aimed towards him. "And who was the one who poured lava-like substance all over me!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Technically, you only begged for your life." Before Rush could even counter, she stomped her foot onto his. She gave a small smirk, watching him shout and bounce around the room. Clearing her facial expression, she turned her attention back to Irina, remembering her earlier task from David. "Are you ready to begin your weapons training?"

Irina happily nodded, ignoring her brother's pleas for help; she had always done so when he pissed off the wrong women. She thought of it as him learning his lesson, one she really hoped he'd learn. "Naturally!"

* * *

Yeah, short as hell, but hey, some comedy to keep you guys tamed eh? Like it said before in the prologue, Emmy will be going through hell and back in this story!


End file.
